TS 1630 

.S5 

Copy 1 i 



*TlD*CLOTH« 




AMERICAN WOOLEN 
COMPANY 

Wm. /A.Wood Vice Prest. 6* Trc2kS. 



From Wool 
to*Cloth 



by Joseph T. Shaw .• Secretary 




American *Wbol en 
♦ * ♦ * Company 



♦ ♦ * ^ 



Wm. M.Wood vice Presr. & Treas. 



;i\i'.v;'; 



LIBRARY nf CONGRESS 
Two Copies aeceived 

JUN 8 1904 

A Copyright Entry 



Xc.No. 

( 
COPY'B 






Copyrighted 1904 

by 

American Woolen Company. 




^'i?3S 



■■-I 'Printed by 
I Ltvertnore & Knight Co. 
Providence, R. I. 




The 
Establishment of the Industry. 




VENTS which led up to the 
war of the Revolution were 
commercial as well as politi- 
cal. 
England was ever jealous of 
our rising industries and did everything in 
her power to check their growth. 

This was especially the case in the attempts 
of the colonists to manufacture the material 
for their own woolen wearing apparel. 



There was always the fadish Tory copy- 
ing English habits and London styles, 
proud of his predilection for British customs 
and of his appearance in the clothing which 
England sent to this country. 

There was also the colonist who stood 
for the backbone of true Americanism and 
showed his pride in all things American by 
patronizing his own institutions. 

Thus in the matter of clothes, although 
the cloth spun and woven at the hearthstone 
and fulled in the adjunct to the village grist 
mill was perhaps crude and greatly lacking in 
the appearance of the English product, yet 
was preferred by the true colonist, if only 
for the satisfaction to his pride and patriotism. 

Until the latter part of the eighteenth 
century, the only American Woolen Factory 
was that composed of the hand card, the 
spinning wheel by the hearth and the archaic 
loom. 



The year 1788 saw the first attempt 
to differentiate wool manufacture from a 
household industry. 

In that year by public subscription a small 
plant was established in Connecticut which 
started business in 1789. 

After attaining the enviable distinction of 
furnishing the first President of this country 
with his inaugural suit of clothes, the Con- 
necticut enterprise was abandoned. 

In 1 794 the first carding machine in Amer- 
ica was constructed and put into operation, 
after which the development of the industry 
was more rapid. 

It was especially favored by the Embargo 
Act and the War of 1812 which cut off all 
importations of foreign goods. 

The census of 18 10, which showed a 
population in the United States of 7,293,903, 
stated that there were woven in families 



9,528,266 yards of woolen goods and enu- 
merated 372,743 spinning wheels, 122,644 
spindles and 225,392 looms, or an average 
of about one loom to 32 people. It 
also reported the existence of 24 woolen 
factories and 1682 fulling mills. 

About this time a Connecticut Mill became 
the first to employ steam for its operative 
power,. installing a 24 horse power engine 
which drove all the machinery required for 
carding, spinning, reeling, weaving, fulling, 
dyeing and finishing. 

Prior to 18 10, mills for teaseling and 
napping cloths were erected to some extent 
in New England and New York, 
y A great many patents had been granted 
in the country for shearing cloth some of 
which were in use at that time. 

The comparatively rapid expansion of 
wool manufacturing in the United States was 



stimulated by the exigencies of the country- 
while engaged in warfare. It progressed, 
nevertheless, under difficulties emanating 
from the same source, and shortly there came 
a day when the country under its own re- 
sources was unable to supply its soldiers 
and sailors with the necessary cloth. 

Inglorious recourse was then indirectly 
made to the manufactories of England and 
in 1 8 13 over half a million dollars was 
expended for army cloths and blankets of 
foreign production. 

During the war of 1 8 1 2 broadcloth in this 
country brought as high as 1 18.00 a yard 
and fine merino wool advanced to I3.00 and 
I4.00 a pound. 

In the year of 18 10 a party of Rhode 
Island capitalists purchased the land belong- 
ing to the Blodgett Estate at Moosup, 
Connecticut. 



In 1816 a factory was built, which after 
three years spent in developing and improv- 
ing the necessary facilities, became a mill for 
the manufacture of broadcloth. 

The story of this mill covers the history 
of several generations and is typical of the 
growth of the woolen industry in this coun- 
try. 

The plant today contains not a stick nor 
a stone of the original buildings, and in its 
modern construction and equipment bears 
no resemblance to the original structure. 

The Moosup is one of the smallest of 
the American Woolen Company's plants. 

In 1824 a mill was built at Dover, N. H., 
which carried on a business of carding and 
cloth dressing, its product being changed in 
1832 to the manufacture of flannels. 

The mills comprising this plant were built 
and rebuilt during a period of fifty odd 



years, always increasing in size and capacity. 

Today, known as the Sawyer Mills, they 
constitute one of the finest plants in the 
country for the manufacture of fancy woolens. 
This was the earliest established plant for its 
particular line in the American Woolen 
Company organization. 

The process of manufacturing worsted 
cloths for men's wear was not begun in this 
country until just prior to i860, when the 
Washington Mills is credited with produc- 
ing the first worsted suitings. 

This plant was begun in Lawrence, 
Massachussets, in 1845, ^"^ ^^^^^ became 
the largest in the world for its class of 
goods. 

A company was chartered in that year 
under the name of the Bay State Mills, with 
an authorized capital of ^1,500,000. 

Although the construction was begun in 
1 845, it was not until three years later that 



the first wheel was set in motion and the 
production of several varieties of goods be- 
gun. 

Most popular of its earlier fabrics was the 
Bay State Shawl which attained to a national 
reputation. 

Significant of the popularity of this pro- 
duct was an inquiry concerning these fabrics 
received by the American Woolen Company 
within the past year, after a lapse of fifty 
years. 

Like the other plants of early inception 
the " Bay State Mill " was several times 
built and rebuilt and was finally equipped 
for the production of cloths for men's wear. 

Today they are known as the Washing- 
ton Mills of the American Woolen Com- 
pany and constitute the largest men's wear 
worsted plant in the world. 

The floor space of these mills is equal to 
about thirty acres, and the annual produc- 



tion is about 12,000,000 yards of worsted 
cloth, double width. 

Under Mr. William M. Wood's manage- 
ment, the Washington Mills successfully 
competed with foreign manufacturers and 
checked the importations of clay worsteds. 

In the same year of 1845 a plant 
was founded in the town of Hudson, Massa- 
chusetts, which in 1899 became a part of 
the American Woolen Company, and has 
under its management become the largest 
mill in the world for the production of 
men's wear woolen goods. 

Like most of the large plants in this coun- 
try, whose history extends over a considerable 
period, the product of these mills during 
their development was much diversified. 

The original mill — the nucleus of the pre- 
sent plant — was a small wooden building de- 
signed for the manufacture of carpets and 
carpet yarn. 



Later this wooden mill was replaced 
by a brick building and as the business devel- 
oped other mills were added and the equip- 
ment changed to produce cloths for men's 
wear. 

In 1 901 was begun the construction of a 
building which contains under one roof the 
largest floor space of any mill devoted to 
the manufacture of woolen goods. 

One can stand at an end of this building 
and look down 690 feet of revolving shaft- 
ing and flying shuttles. 

This building alone contains about nine 
acres of floor space and is fully equipped for 
1,000 looms and their complement of other 
machinery. 

When one realizes how a century ago this 
country was so subservient in this industry to 
England and other foreign nations, it certainly 
is a cause for pride to consider these two 



plants which surpass anything in the world 
in their line of manufacture. 

Like many another American industry, 
woolen manufacture in this country has out- 
stripped foreign competitors. 

The machinery of American workmanship 
is of a cleaner, neater, more efficient type 
than the usually clumsy machines from the 
English and Continental shops. 

The operatives here are equally as skilled 
and average on a higher plane of intelligence 
than abroad. 

Climatic conditions and facilities are un- 
doubtedly superior in this country. 

Added to these are the immense faciUties 
afforded in the organization of the American 
Woolen Company, whose mills include the 
largest, best equipped and most modern 
plants in the world. 

With twenty-eight distinct plants (com- 
prising some 147 separate factories) at its 



command, it can centralize and distribute the 
different processes of manufacture in a way 
possible to no other woolen manufacturers 
in the world. 

The American Woolen Company has a 
capital of ^20,000,000 Preferred and ^30,- 
000,000 Common Stock devoted to the manu- 
facture of woolens. It has expended during 
the past four years upward of ^6,000,000 
from its earnings, in bringing the equipment 
of its mills to the highest state of perfection 
and efficiency. 

With such a combination of mills and 
capital it has been able to effect many econo- 
mies and improvements in manufacture, not 
otherwise possible. 

The Company produces a large amount 
of goods suitable for all classes. 

Sixty thousand different fabrics and styles 
are shown each year. 



Its finer cloths are unsurpassed in quality 
and are distinctive and exclusive in style. 

The Company buys direct its own raw 
materials. It spins its own yarn, weaves its 
own cloth and maintains one of the most 
extensive selling organizations in the world 
for the disposal of its fabrics direct. 

There are imitations of American Woolen 
cloths today just as there were several years 
ago imitations of foreign cloths. 

When an American considers the facilities 
of this Corporation and the modern equip- 
ment and extent of its plants, he may be 
certain that he will obtain the best cloth 
procurable at the given price if he demands 
that manufactured by the American Woolen 
Company. 




^>^^J 




Assabet Mills 
Maynardy Mass. 




From Wool to Cloth. 




MERICAN Woolen Manu- 
facturers obtain their raw ma- 
terial partly in the United 
States and partly from abroad. 
Australasia, 4000 miles 
nearer New England than London, is the 
largest producer of the best wool — the 
longest staple and the finest fibre — growing 
about 500,000,000 pounds a year. 

South America produces 510,000,000 
pounds and North America 304,450,000 



pounds, of which the United States gave a 
product last year of 287,450,000 pounds. 

Europe gives the largest production in 
quantity, but it is composed mostly of the 
medium and lower grades, such as are used 
in carpets. 

The Australian clip is sold almost alto- 
gether through public auctions which are 
held primarily in the country itself. 

The South American wools used by 
American woolen manufacturers are largely 
imported direct, although a part of the 
clip is offered in the London and Liverpool 
auctions. Several years ago the greater por- 
tion of the South American clip was of fine 
merino wool, but since the introduction of 
cold storage on the carrying steamers, the 
growers have changed their flocks to the 
mutton producing animal which grows a 
coarse wool. 



In the United States, which boasts about 
39,000,000 sheep, the wool is frequently of 
a very fine quality, some of it rivalling even 
that of Australian growth. Among the finest 
staples are those brought from Pennsyl- 
vania, West Virginia and Ohio, the picklock 
of the latter State comparing with the choicest 
Port Phillip or Geelong, while the merino 
of Vermont is among the finest in the 
world. In fact the highly bred merinos 
of Vermont form the basis for much of 
the best Australian clips, Vermont rams 
being sold for large sums to the Aus- 
tralian growers. 

All of these markets are most available to 
the American Manufacturers. 

When woolen manufacture first emerged 
from the hearthstones, in our colonial history, 
the great difficulty which confronted the 
original workers was the lack of fine fleece 




Sorting and Grading 
at the Assabet Mills 



wool. Several gentlemen early realized the 
importance of establishing in this country a 
flock of fleece producing sheep, and their 
attempts at importing fine breeds formed the 
basis of the present magnitude of this indus- 
try. One gentleman was given by a friend 
of his a fine merino ram. Not realizing its 
importance from the wool standpoint, he 
enjoyed its excellence as mutton, but when 
he discovered it would cost |i,ooo to replace 
the animal, he regretted his haste. 

Sheep were imported from the best centres 
in Europe ; some coming from Spain, others 
from Flanders, until in the early part of the 
last century the industry in America was 
well established. 

The centre of the wool trade in the United 
States is, and always has been, Boston. 
Here in the great storehouses can be seen 
the wool brought from abroad and from the 



Western plains. The buying and selling of 
the staple forms a distinct trade in itself and 
constitutes by no means the smallest of New 
England^s many industries. 

Wool is brought to this market from the 
West most frequently in the greasy state. 
When it arrives at the mills the first process 
consists of sorting it into different grades, 
one fleece being separated often into fivQ or 
more different qualities. 

It is then cleansed — or scoured, as the 
process is called. 

This means the passage of the wool by 
means of automatic rakes through the suc- 
cessive bowls of the wool scouring machine 
filled with warm soapy water, until it emerges 
at the other end relieved of the animal grease 
and dirt with which it may have been filled. 

From the last bowl it is carried on an apron, 
made of slats on chains, or is blown through 
pipes into the drying machine where most 



of the moisture is removed, enough being 
left in the wool to keep the particles from 
flying while going through the carding pro- 
cess which comes later. 

In the manufacture of cloth from wool 
there are two distinctive processes, that for 
worsted cloth and that for woolen, the differ- worsteds 
ence between the two being best described 
by saying that the worsted fabrics consist of 
yarns in which fibres of wool are laid parallel, 
and the woolen cloths being composed of wooiens 
yarn in which the fibres are crisscrossed. 

It is obvious, then, that in the worsteds 
only the long staples can be used, while in 
the woolen the shorter fibres can be employed. 
The difference is in the arrangement of the 
fibres and to arrive at this, different processes 
are necessary. 

In the descriptions of manufacture illus- 
trated herewith, there have been followed 




Carding 

at the Assabet 



the methods in vogue at the American 
Woolen Company's mills and particularly at jj^Q^gj.,, 
the Washington and the Assabet plants. Methods 
These two mills are respectively the largest 
and best equipped plants for men's wear 
worsted fabrics and men's wear woolen cloths 
in the world and it is considered that their 
processes are the most efficient and modern. 

Considering first, the manufacture of wor- -Worsted 
steds, the next process in order is card- Carding 

rr^x 1 • r 1 • 1 J Straightening 

ing. The wool is red mto the cards the fibres, 
automatically and passed between leather 
clothed cylinders, revolving in opposite direc- 
tions, from which project the ends of many 
small wires. These straighten the fibres 
and deliver the wool in soft strands with the 
fibres all laid parallel to one another when it 
is taken off by the doffer comb and rolled into 
balls of a thick, soft untwisted rope which is 
called sliver. Eight or ten of these balls are 




Combing at the 
Riverside Mills 



run into one and drawn out into smaller 

compass through gilling machines. In this 

process the wool is drawn by rollers between 

bars filled with pins — called fallers — which, 

moving slower than the wool, comb and draw 

out the sliver, further straightening the fibres 

and completing the preparation for the 

combing process. The balls of wool are then 

, , , , . , . , . , Combing 

run through the combmg machme which re- -^ arming the 

moves the remaining dirt and all the shorter .-Vf /«. 

wool. 

After passing through the combs the wool 
is rolled into balls about a foot in diameter 
and then appears as Tops. Another draw- 
ing out process follows still further reducing 
the number of fibres in the untwisted thread 
but maintaining them in their relatively 
parallel position ready for spinning. 

In the first steps in drawing and spinning, 
the sliver is conveyed into the drawing ma- 



Tops 



Spinning 

Making the yarn. 



chines and during its passage through these 
is drawn out with a slight twisting motion 
again reducing the size. The actual spin- 
ning consists of a continuation of this process 
until the fibres are reduced to twisted thread, 
generally fifteen turns to the inch. Two 
threads are often twisted together and some- 
times as many as four strands are made into 
one thread. 



Warp 

Yarns running 
lengthwise. 

Filling 

Yarns running 



Dressing 

Preparing yarn 
for loom. 



The next process is the preparation of the 
yarn for weaving in which it is used in two 
ways, as warp, which runs the length of the 
cloth, and filling, which runs crossways of 
the cloth. The warp threads are put on 
large reels and from these are transferred to 
a large roll which is called the warp beam 
and holds all of the warp threads. The fill- 
ing is put on shuttle bobbins which are 
placed in the shuttle and are kept filled by 
the weaver as the process requires. 



For the manufacture of woolen goods the woolens 
shorter fibred wools are used and in certain 
stages a different process is employed than 
that with which the worsted materials are 
treated. If the wool should contain burrs 
or other vegetable matter it is dipped into a 
bath of chloride of aluminum or a sulphuric Carbonizing 

. , , _ Removing vege- 

acid solution and afterward baked, which t^^ie matter. 
carbonizes the foreign substance but does 
not affect the animal fibres. There is also 
employed a machine called the burr picker, 
whose name implies its use. The wool is Picking 
then ready for the picker which prepares mS?ed"iocks^ 

r i ^^^ mixing the 

It for the carding process. If the wool ^^°<=''- 
is to be blended with other stock it is laid 
upon the floor near the picker and mixed 
with the other grades which are thoroughly 
blended in their progress through the picker. 
From the picker the stock is fed on to the Carding 
cards automatically by a so-called " self thrfiLes!"" 




Mule Spinning 
at the Assabet 



feed " which weighs it and spreads it on the 
feeding apron from-^which it passes through 
a series of cylinders covered with wire cloth- 
ing, in connection with which there are 
smaller cylinders performing similar work 
called workers, fancies, strippers, doffers, etc. 
This process delivers the wool or stock in 
the form of numerous soft strands or threads, 
graded in size according to the size thread 
to be spun, on to spools with the required 
number of strands on each spool. 

It then passes to the spinning machine, or 
mule, where it is spun into warp or filling Spinning 

J • J nn\. ' ' C Making woolen 

yarn as desired. 1 here are various sizes or yam. 
these machines and the yarns are spun some- 
times on paper cop tubes or in other cases 
on bobbins. 

The filling yarns go direct from the spin- 
ning room to the weave room, as they are 
used in the loom without further process. 




French Drawing 

at the Washington Mills 



The warp yarns are spooled from the 
bobbin on to dresser spools. A number of 
these spools are assembled into a rack until 
the required number of threads for a section 
is obtained. The process of dressing con- 
sists of winding it from these smaller spools 
on to a large reel which stretches the 
yarn evenly and from this on to a beam 
which contains the number of ends required 
for a warp — usually several thousand. To 
prepare the warp for the loom there is what 
is called the drawing-in process, which is Foiiowing*the 
done by drawing the ends of the yarns 
through the respective eye-lets of the harness 
heddles. These frames, after being placed 
in the loom, are raised or lowered in the 
process of weaving by the loom mechanism 
called the head motion, which allows the fill- j^^^^- 
ing shuttles to pass above some threads Making the doth. 
and below others following out the pattern 
designed. 



Drawing in 




Weave Room 

at the Washington Mills 



The cloth leaves the loom in the form of 

a cut or piece after it is woven the desired 

length which varies according to the fabric. 

It is then carefully examined for any imper- 

r . , r 1 • 1 1 Burling and 

rections that may appear, arter which the Mending 

process of burling or mending is taken up, pe/fectiinl""' 
knots being carefully removed and any 
threads woven in wrongly, or other imper- 
fections, taken out and sewn in by hand. 
The employees engaged in this work become 
most expert and are able to correct perfectly 
by hand any imperfection which may occur in 
the process of weaving, such as the breaking 
of threads and similar unavoidable accidents. 

The finishing process varies according to Finishing 
the fabric being made. Broadcloths and 
other face finished goods require much more 
treatment than worsted cloths or fancy 
woolens. The former are sometimes scoured 
or cleansed in the washers before fulling and 




Burling, Mending 

and Examining 

at the Washington Mills 



often go directly to the fulling mill with- 
out previous cleansing. 

The shorter fibres in the woolen yarn 
cannot be woven into so close or firm a 
fabric as is possible with the long parallel 
fibres in the worsted yarn and in order to 
make a perfect cloth from the former it is puujng 
necessary in many cases to felt the fibres Matting the 

■' ^ ' ^ ^ _ fibres together. 

together by fulling or shrinking. This pro- 
cess consists of running cloth through a full- 
ing mill which subjects it while in motion to 
great pressure, it being at the same time 
moistened with a specially prepared soap. 
This work felts or mats the fibres together, 
making a firm and durable fabric. The 
amount of shrinkage that will occur in the 
various fabrics when subjected to the fulling 
process is accurately gauged and full allow- 
ance therefor is made before the cloth goes 
to the fulling mill. In order to obtain a 



length say of fifty yards after the cloth is 
fulled, some fabrics must come from the 
loom sixty yards in length. Other woolens 
shrink less. 

After fulling, the cloth is thoroughly 
washed and if any vegetable fibres remain it 
is put through a carbonizing process. Ac- 
cording to the finish desired, the cloth is 
Napping or then napped or gigged. If a face or smooth 
Raising the ends finlsh Is dcslrcd the cloth is first napped or 

of fibres. . ... 

gigged by the use of a wire napping machine 
or a teasel gig. This process raises the ends 
of the fibres on the face of the cloth. It is 
afterwards sheared and pressed. The teasel 
used in gigging the cloth is a vegetable pro- 
Teasel duct in form somewhat the shape of a pine 
pr^uS*^* cone. Invention has not yet discovered a 
mechanical process which can entirely sup- 
plant it. If a lustrous finish is desired the 



cloth is wound on copper cylinders and steam 
forced through it at a high pressure. 

The cloth now ready for coloring is put 
into large dye tubs which hold six or more 
pieces according to the weight of the ^bric 
and contain the desired shades of colorings. 

This process is descriptive of the so- Piece dyemg 
called piece-dye fabric meaning that it is '^""^ 
dyed after being woven. A cloth composed 
of various colored yams, or as it is termed a 
mixture, is treated differently, the stock 
being dyed before the picking process or 
immediately after scouring. In a worsted Sttckdyem 
mixture the dyeing is done either while the 
wool is in the slubbing — that is when it has 
been subjected to the first combing process — 
or the yam is dyed in the skein. 

After being taken from the dve-vats the 
cloth is passed to the dryers and subjected to 
the several processes of dry finishing whidi 





mi 



Finishing 

at the Washington Mills 



the various kinds of finish demand, the cloth 
being steamed, brushed and pressed. It is 
then submitted to another careful and rigid Examining 
examination. If any imperfections or de- 
fects appear which are not easily remediable 
the cloth is rejected and graded as so-called 
seconds. Then comes the measuring and 
packing when the cloth finally is ready for 
the market. 





National and 
Providence 
Worsted Mills 
Providence^ R. I. 





HE American Woolen Com- 
pany was formed in the early 
part of 1899. The corpora- 
tion has a capital of $50,000,- 
000 and operates 28 distinct 
plants comprising 147 buildings with a floor 
space of 125 acres. 

At the head of this organization is Mr. 
William M. Wood, who has been the Com- 
pany's treasurer and chief executive since its 
inception. 

The policy of the Company is the manu- 
facture of a large amount of goods at a small 
margin of profit, and with its 7,000 looms it 
has facilities for producing the best cloth at 
the least cost. 



The Company produces a great many 
yards of cloth, but its product is much 
diversified — as many as 60,000 different 
fabrics and styles being shown each year. 

Standing as it does at the very head of the 
woolen manufacturing industry in the world, 
it produces goods within the reach of all 
classes as well as cloth for the finest wear 
which is unsurpassed at home or abroad. 

American Woolen Company Properties 



Washington Mills . . 
Saranac Mills . . . 
National & Providence 
Worsted Mills . . 
Fulton Mills . 
Fitchburg Mills 
Beoli Mills 
Valley Mills . 
Riverside Mills 
AssABET Mills . 
Sawyer Mills . 



Lawrence, Mass. 
Blackstone, Mass. 

Providence, R. I. 
Fulton, N. Y. 
Fitchburg, Mass. 
Fitchburg, Mass. 
Providence, R. I. 
Providence, R. I. 
Maynard, Mass. 
Dover, N. H. 



Bay State Mills . 
Beaver Brook Mills 
Vassalboro Mills 
Puritan Mills 
Anderson Mills 
Kennebec Mills 
M ANTON Mills 
Anchor Mills 
Burlington Mills 
Chase Mills . 
Brown Mills . 
Ray Mills . . 
Weybosset Mills 
Baltic Mills . 
Moosup Mills 
Lebanon Mills 
Prospect Mills 
Globe Mills . 



Lowell, Mass. 
Lowell, Mass. 
North Vassalboro, Me. 
Plymouth, Mass. 
Skowhegan, Me. 
Fairfield, Me. 
Manton, R. I. 
Harrisville & Pascoag, R. I. 
Winooski, Vt. 
Webster, Mass. 
Dover, Me. 
Franklin, Mass. 
Providence, R. I. 
Enfield, N. H. 
Moosup, Conn. 
Lebanon, N. H. 
Lawrence, Mass. 
Lawrence, Mass. 




»\./invancoo 



015 870 914 4 



